Recruiting tool 'text messaging' got to go

ATLANTA - The NCAA is set to add a bylaw to its recruiting rules, and it reads like this: IMO TXTing GTG. Translation: In my opinion (IMO), text messaging (TXTing) has got to go (GTG).

The NCAA Board of Directors is expected to vote today to ban text messaging between college coaches and recruits. The measure will close a rare loophole in the NCAA recruiting rules, which already limit communication in person, on the telephone and through e-mail.

Text messaging is done by cell phone or other hand-held communication device and was previously unregulated, except during the time the NCAA classifies as "dead periods." Texting became so popular as a result top recruits would receive daily messages from dozens of coaches.

Still, there was little or no blowback until recently. Myles Brand, the NCAA's president, admitted during the Final Four the topic had been discussed.

Georgia football coach Mark Richt saw the benefits of texting. "(It) certainly changed the way recruiting was done and the amount of contact you can have with a young man," Richt said. "Whether or not that was for the good or the bad, I'm not going to sit here and try to debate that issue. Did text messaging allow you to communicate more to the young man you were recruiting? Yes. There's no doubt about that."

Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey called the proposal a "knee jerk" reaction, particularly considering the rapidly evolving modes of telecommunication. "In two years, we'll have something else," Gailey said. "It's an issue we're making too much out of."